State v. Oblinger, Unpublished Decision (5-18-2006)
State v. Oblinger, Unpublished Decision (5-18-2006)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 3} The magistrate issued her decision on September 29, 2004. On October 21, 2004, appellee sought an extension of time to file his objections to the magistrate's decision, asserting that he was out of town at the time the decision was issued and did not receive the decision until after the fourteen-day period for filing objections had expired. The court granted appellee an extension of time to November 22, 2004.
{¶ 4} Appellee filed objections simultaneously with his motion for an extension of time, but subsequently filed amended objections to the magistrate's report on November 18, 2004 raising eight objections. Appellant opposed them. On March 11, 2005, the court sustained two of appellee's objections "as to the separate property nature of the Mastick Road property and the effective date of Defendant's reimbursement for medical expenses * * *." The court then referred the matter back to the magistrate for an amended decision.
{¶ 5} The magistrate issued her amended decision on March 29, 2005. In her amended decision, the magistrate concluded that appellee had established that $43,177.61 of his separate funds were used to pay off a mortgage on property located at 20820 Mastick Road which the parties had stipulated to be the separate property of appellant. The magistrate concluded that appellant's evidence fell short of establishing, by clear and convincing evidence, that appellee intended the transfer of funds to be a gift. However, the magistrate found that appellee had not presented sufficient information to allow the court to calculate the separate property component on any increase in the value of the property. Therefore, the magistrate proposed that "the judgment entry of divorce shall include a judgment in favor of [appellee] against [appellant] in the amount of $43,177.61" plus statutory interest from the date of the judgment. The magistrate further ordered appellant to reimburse appellee $269.58 per month for the cost of health insurance appellee maintained for her, from the date appellee moved the court to compel this reimbursement until the date appellant was removed from his insurance plan.
{¶ 6} Both parties objected to the magistrate's decision. On June 7, 2005, the court overruled the objections, adopted the magistrate's decision, and ordered counsel for appellee to prepare a judgment entry reflecting the magistrate's recommended order. On June 24, 2005, the court entered its final judgment.
{¶ 8} We cannot say that the court abused its discretion by finding that appellee's failure to file objections within the specified time period was the result of excusable neglect. The motion for an extension of time was filed only five calendar days (three business days) after the objections were due. There is no evidence that appellant was prejudiced by the delay. Civil Rule 6(B) did not require appellee to explain why he failed to request an extension of time before the time period for objections had expired, but only to explain why he failed to file objections within the requisite period. The asserted fact that appellee was out of town and unable to review the magistrate's decision sufficiently showed an excusable reason why the objections were not timely filed. Accordingly, we overrule the second assignment of error.
{¶ 9} In her first assignment of error, appellant contends that the court erred by sustaining appellee's objections to the magistrate's report filed September 29, 2004. Appellant argues that the objections concerned issues of fact and that appellee did not supply the court with a transcript of the trial proceedings which would have allowed the court to review those findings. We reject the appellant's characterization of these issues as factual.
{¶ 10} The court sustained appellee's objections on two issues, (1) the "separate property nature of the Mastick Road property" and (2) the "effective date of Defendant's reimbursement for medical expenses." The "separate property nature of the Mastick Road property" related to appellee's contention that the Mastick Road property was partially marital property because he contributed money toward payment of the mortgage. The magistrate's first report found that appellant had supplied clear and convincing evidence that this money was a gift, and that appellee had failed to demonstrate that the funds were intended as a loan. However, appellee's objections to the magistrate's decision asserted that the money was neither a gift nor a loan but a contribution to the equity in the home which should therefore be considered marital property. See R.C.
{¶ 11} The "effective date of Defendant's reimbursement for medical expenses" concerned the date from which appellant was required to reimburse appellee for the cost of health insurance. The magistrate's first decision concluded that appellant should reimburse appellee from January 1, 2004. The decision did not explain why the magistrate chose this date. Appellee's objections claimed that the court should have begun the period of reimbursement from July 18, 2003, the date appellee filed his motion to terminate his obligation to provide health insurance, which had been imposed pursuant to a restraining order issued by the court on December 14, 2001.
{¶ 12} Providing health insurance for a spouse is a form of spousal support. Goode v. Goode (1991),
{¶ 13} While we affirm the trial court's judgment, we must nevertheless remand for the purpose of allowing the court to correct the judgment entry to reflect a judgment in favor of appellee in the amount of $43, 177.61 plus interest. While the court's judgment entry concluded that appellee was entitled judgment in this amount, the court did not actually enter the judgment. The court has jurisdiction to correct this oversight pursuant to Civ.R. 60(A).
Affirmed and remanded.
This cause is affirmed and remanded to the lower court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is ordered that appellee recover of appellant his costs herein taxed.
The court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
It is ordered that a special mandate issue out of this court directing the common pleas court, domestic relations division, to carry this judgment into execution.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Calabrese, Jr., P.J. concurs. Corrigan, J. Dissents (see dissenting opinion attached).
Dissenting Opinion
{¶ 14} I respectfully dissent from the majority because the trial court should have summarily overruled appellee's objections to the magistrate's decision, which were filed without the required affidavit or transcript in support. Civ.R. 53(E)(3)(c) expressly states in pertinent part as follows:
{¶ 15} "Any objection to a finding of fact shall be supported by a transcript of all the evidence submitted to the magistrate relevant to that fact or an affidavit of that evidence if a transcript is not available."
{¶ 16} Due to appellee's noncompliance with Civ.R. 53(E)(3)(c), I would reverse the trial court's decision.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State of Ohio v. Regis v. Oblinger
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Unpublished